John Collins (priest)

This article is about the Anglican canon. For the American Catholic chaplain, seeJohn A. Collins (chaplain).

Collins in 1966

Lewis John Collins(23 March 1905 – 31 December 1982) was anAnglicanpriest who was active in several radical political movements in the United Kingdom.

Life

Educated atCranbrook School, Kent,andSidney Sussex College, Cambridge,Collins was ordained a priest in 1928 and served as chaplain of his old college and vice-principal ofWestcott House,before becoming chaplain ofOriel College, Oxford,in 1937.He served as a chaplain in theRoyal Air ForceduringWorld War IIand was radicalised by the experience. In 1946, upon returning to Oxford,he founded the organizationChristian Actionto work for reconciliation with Germany. He was appointed as acanonofSt Paul's Cathedral,London,in 1948, an office he held for 33 years. Shortly afterwards he became disturbed by the newly developingapartheidsystem in South Africa.

In 1951, Collins was one of the four founders of the charityWar on Want,which fights global poverty. In 1956, he committed Christian Action to raising funds for the defence of anti-apartheid activists accused of treason in South Africa and this gave rise to theDefence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa.The fund raised more than £75,000 to help defend the accused during theTreason Trial.Collins was strongly opposed to a proposed cricket tour byFrank Worrell's West Indies to South Africa in 1959, leading a successful campaign to have it cancelled.

Collins was strongly opposed to the spread ofnuclear weaponsand was one of many on theleftin Britain who believed that it was unnecessary and wrong for Britain to own such weapons. He was one of the founders of theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament.He was also a member of theAnglican Pacifist Fellowship,working with the ReverendSidney Hinkeson anti-nuclear campaigns.

He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting aworld constitution.As a result, for the first time in human history, aWorld Constituent Assemblyconvened to draft and adopt theConstitution for the Federation of Earth.

The Canon Collins Educational & Legal Assistance Trust, formerly known as Canon Collins Trust for Southern Africa (CCETSA) is acharityfounded in 1981. It was set up as theDefence and Aid Fund for Southern Africaand Collins was its first chairman. In the days of apartheid it provided money to help South African andNamibianrefugee students gain thehigher educationin the United Kingdom and in independent African states. It now provides scholarships for students within South Africa and in other African countries.

Family

Collins marriedDiana Clavering Elliot(1917–2003) in 1939; they had four sons, including the judgeAndrew Collins.In 1999, Diana Collins was appointedDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Bibliography

• "COLLINS, Rev. Canon Lewis John",Who Was Who,A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014.(subscription required)
• "Collins, (Lewis) John",Oxford Dictionary of National Biographyonline edition(subscription required)

External links

• Collins's biographyon the Canon Collins Educational & Legal Assistance Trust website
• Obituary of Diana Collinsin theDaily Telegraph
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament website